Newfoundland and Labrador’s cultural community was in the spotlight this past weekend as the winners of the 2018 Arts and Letters Awards Program were announced at The Rooms in St. John’s.

Prizes totaling $43,000 were awarded in literary, music, visual arts, and digital multimedia categories. In the junior division, 30 winning entries were submitted from youth, while there were 31 winning submissions in the senior division. A total of 423 entries were submitted for consideration under the 2018 Arts and Letters Program. The Percy Janes First Novel Award, the program’s top prize of $2,500, was awarded to Willow Kean of St. John’s for her manuscript Our Impossible Forever. A detailed list of award recipients can be found in the backgrounder below.

For the first time, the public is invited to a brief exhibition at The Rooms to view works by winners and selected entries of the 2018 Arts and Letters Awards program.

In keeping with commitments set out in The Way Forward, this year the Arts and Letters Awards Program moved to digital delivery for the first time, improving efficiency and opening the program in future to a greater number of submissions from all areas of the province . The Way Forward outlines all actions the Provincial Government is taking to achieve a strong, diversified province with a high standard of living, and can be viewed at thewayforward.gov.nl.ca.

Quote
"For 66 years, the Arts and Letters Awards program has celebrated the artistic expression of our province’s artists, both emerging and established. The program fosters the creation of new works through an annual competition that includes the awarding of monetary prizes and the exhibition of winners and additional meritorious entries. Congratulations to all this year’s winners and entrants, and thank you for your continued contribution to the growth and evolution of Newfoundland and Labrador’s cultural landscape. This cultural landscape is a significant contributor to our province both socially and economically, and that is why we are currently holding consultations throughout the province to set the priorities and key actions for a new cultural plan.”
Honourable Christopher Mitchelmore
Minister of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation